Trust the government or BP?

A serious difference of opinion is building between BP and Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is leading the government’s response to the leak from BP’s well.

That difference is over who will decide whether it is safe to keep in place the cap that, since late last week, has stopped the leak of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP seems to think yes. Adm. Allen has his doubts, though on Monday he gave BP one more day to keep checking.

The danger is that if there are other weak spots deeper in the well casing, oil could start gushing from a rupture in the sea floor. That oil might be much harder to contain, and could hamper the effort to finally seal the leak with a relief well. On Saturday, Adm. Allen sent BP a letter basically demanding that the company check all decisions with him and provide access to all test results.

We’ve said for weeks that the government should start taking over the response from BP, given the company’s failure to disclose information. We believe that if there are disagreements regarding the well cap, Adm. Allen should decide. The government may not have looked great at all points of the response, but do you want BP to make the call? What do you think? Take our poll.